Drivers who veered into bus lanes or stopped in box junctions paid nearly £890,000 to Kingston Council in 12 weeks this spring.

New council leader Kevin Davis has promised to review the fines regime which is now catching an average of 72 drivers daily in bus lanes alone.

Surbiton van driver Daniel Wiggins was fined when he pulled into a bus lane to allow police motorbikes to pass him in Ewell Road.

Painter and decorator Mr Wiggins, 34, said: "The first I heard of it was when they clamped me. They weren't going to pay up.

"I think [the £890,000 figure] is quite high. How many of those tickets are really worth giving out? It's just a money-making scheme at the end of the day."

The council finally relented after reviewing the CCTV.

Council leader Councillor Kevin Davis said: "That’s just idiotic. We shouldn’t have been issuing the fine in the first place.

"We will be reviewing all sorts of aspects of traffic fines, and that includes parking. Often we are too quick to impose that for what are incredibly minor infringements."

Conservative London Assembly member Tony Arbour said: "It’s quite clear that the previous administration [in Kingston] used the motorists as a milch cow. The chances are that once you have been fined you will say, ‘I’m not coming back to Kingston.’"

But Liberal Democrat former council leader Coun Liz Green said: "I would want [the figure] to be reducing over time as people comply with the regulations.

"A lot of these things are about safety as well as keeping traffic moving."

In March, April and May, 6,505 bus lane fines were paid, totalling £422,028.

Yellow box junctions brought in a quarter-of-a-million pounds in the same period.

Other contraventions, which can include making banned turns and driving the wrong way, raised £225,328.

Neighbouring Richmond Council has yet to provide its figures for box junctions or bus lanes but raised just £9,750 in the same period from 'other' moving traffic contraventions.

The total paid to Kingston Council by drivers breaking the law on Kingston’s roads came to £889,600.

It earned more than £800,000 between September and March last year after enforcement of moving violations was handed over by police.

Comments

AND STILL THEY HAVE NOT REPAIRED ANY POT HOLES !! just what are they doing with all that money because they are cutting services all the time !!

Liz Green still has not got the message

[quote][p][bold]helen59[/bold] wrote:
AND STILL THEY HAVE NOT REPAIRED ANY POT HOLES !! just what are they doing with all that money because they are cutting services all the time !![/p][/quote]Liz Green still has not got the messageBeverly RA

helen59 wrote…

AND STILL THEY HAVE NOT REPAIRED ANY POT HOLES !! just what are they doing with all that money because they are cutting services all the time !!

Liz Green still has not got the message

Score: -2

CupraBear
11:06am Fri 20 Jun 14

Yet the Council Tax is the highest in London. What is Kingston Council doing with all this money?

Yet the Council Tax is the highest in London. What is Kingston Council doing with all this money?CupraBear

Yet the Council Tax is the highest in London. What is Kingston Council doing with all this money?

Score: 10

helen59
11:32am Fri 20 Jun 14

AND STILL THEY HAVE NOT REPAIRED ANY POT HOLES !! just what are they doing with all that money because they are cutting services all the time !!

AND STILL THEY HAVE NOT REPAIRED ANY POT HOLES !! just what are they doing with all that money because they are cutting services all the time !!helen59

AND STILL THEY HAVE NOT REPAIRED ANY POT HOLES !! just what are they doing with all that money because they are cutting services all the time !!

Score: 10

kingstonpaul
1:00pm Fri 20 Jun 14

As a society, we’re becoming over-regulated and over-fined, penalised for just being human. As with the subject of this article. Just as worryingly, because of the huge amount of signage and markings on our highways about restrictions, motorists are being increasingly distracted. I wonder just how many road deaths and injuries can be attributed to drivers’ attention being diverted trying to decipher ambiguous lane signage instead of concentrating on the road ahead?

As a society, we’re becoming over-regulated and over-fined, penalised for just being human. As with the subject of this article. Just as worryingly, because of the huge amount of signage and markings on our highways about restrictions, motorists are being increasingly distracted. I wonder just how many road deaths and injuries can be attributed to drivers’ attention being diverted trying to decipher ambiguous lane signage instead of concentrating on the road ahead?kingstonpaul

As a society, we’re becoming over-regulated and over-fined, penalised for just being human. As with the subject of this article. Just as worryingly, because of the huge amount of signage and markings on our highways about restrictions, motorists are being increasingly distracted. I wonder just how many road deaths and injuries can be attributed to drivers’ attention being diverted trying to decipher ambiguous lane signage instead of concentrating on the road ahead?

Score: -1

Mick M
8:57pm Sat 21 Jun 14

These fines are nothing to do with safety or keeping the traffic moving. How can you justlfy fining people in residential side roads whose only crime is not having a residents parking permit. Why the hell should you need one? This is nothing to do with safety or keeping traffic moving.

These fines are nothing to do with safety or keeping the traffic moving. How can you justlfy fining people in residential side roads whose only crime is not having a residents parking permit. Why the hell should you need one? This is nothing to do with safety or keeping traffic moving.Mick M

These fines are nothing to do with safety or keeping the traffic moving. How can you justlfy fining people in residential side roads whose only crime is not having a residents parking permit. Why the hell should you need one? This is nothing to do with safety or keeping traffic moving.

Score: 0

0753waterloo
11:42am Sun 22 Jun 14

Beverly RA wrote…

helen59 wrote…

AND STILL THEY HAVE NOT REPAIRED ANY POT HOLES !! just what are they doing with all that money because they are cutting services all the time !!

Liz Green still has not got the message

Liz Green isn't Council Leader anymore. Time is ticking by for the Conservative pledges to be met....

[quote][p][bold]Beverly RA[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]helen59[/bold] wrote:
AND STILL THEY HAVE NOT REPAIRED ANY POT HOLES !! just what are they doing with all that money because they are cutting services all the time !![/p][/quote]Liz Green still has not got the message[/p][/quote]Liz Green isn't Council Leader anymore. Time is ticking by for the Conservative pledges to be met....0753waterloo

Beverly RA wrote…

helen59 wrote…

AND STILL THEY HAVE NOT REPAIRED ANY POT HOLES !! just what are they doing with all that money because they are cutting services all the time !!

Liz Green still has not got the message

Liz Green isn't Council Leader anymore. Time is ticking by for the Conservative pledges to be met....

Ipsoregulated

This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then please contact the editor here. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can contact IPSO here